Best Trading Books for Entrepreneurs, CEOs and Freelancers

Trading is something humans have done since the beginning of time. Ever since people discovered that things have value, they have been quick to use that to their advantage. But what are the tricks of the trade, so to speak, when it comes to trading?

You and I want the same thing; we both want that secret wisdom legendary traders have. While reading through the best trading books won’t necessarily guarantee that, it will offer a great start and some considerable knowledge on what to do to improve your skills.

Like many of the traders before you, you’ll get to where you need to be with sufficient experience. You may stumble and fall, but, when properly guided, you should be able to learn from your mistakes and eventually achieve success.

What’s great about my compilation of books is that there’s always one that will cover the current level of your trading skills. We’ve all got to start somewhere, right?

If you’ve only dabbled in trading before and enjoyed it, now’s your chance to get serious. It may seem like a game of luck that you’re not willing to bet on, but words from our experts should convince you otherwise. For the authors of most books in this collection, luck doesn’t just happen for anyone; it happens to those who work hard for it.

Trading books help you think more clearly so that you can make better decisions. They’re also the type of books you should read again and again so you can ingrain in yourself the lessons they teach. Don’t move from one book to another without truly understanding the purpose of the book.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to a compilation of essential reads on trading. May these books take your trading skills to the next level and help you win at life.

Best Trading Books

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld

Fun though older book.

Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder/Sun Microsystem

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I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention

I just finished reading The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention by William Rosen. It focuses on the Industrial Revolution basically from the Newcomen atmospheric engine in 1712 to the Stephen Rocket Locomotive in 1850. It does a great job of explaining how thousands of innovations were driven during this period by many elements coming together: increased literacy, patents, societies, scientist/tinkerers, the cotton industry, trade/shipping, measurement, etc. It is a great book although its helps to have an interest in how steam engines actually work since it chronicles how they changed over time in some depth. This book is very worthwhile, and I’ll have more to say about it also in a longer review.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Chaos Monkeys: Inside the Silicon Valley Money Machine

Chaos Monkeys was a fun one that I read recently. About kind of M&A, and growing a business in Silicon Valley over the last five years.

Mike Dudas

Co-founder/Button

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

CEO Marilyn Hewson recommends this book because it helped her to trust her instincts in business.

Marillyn Hewson

CEO/Lockheed Martin

Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Suggested by Daymond John on page 324 in Tools of Titans.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

The Enlightened Capitalists: Cautionary Tales of Business Pioneers Who Tried to Do Well by Doing Good

James O’Toole’s clear-eyed assessment of the history of ‘enlightened capitalism’ is a must-read for any business leader serious about shaping its future--and thus our own.

Jay Coen Gilbert

Co-Founder/B Lab

Season of the Witch

If you live in San Francisco or have interest in the city, you have to read this book. It's non-fiction that reads like fiction and covers the city's most radical period of change in the 60s and 70s.

Lynn Perkins

CEO/Urbansitter

The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin had the biggest impact on my thinking and viewpoint towards decision making.

Among many other themes, the book stressed the idea that successful leaders (the top 10%) had one distinguishing characteristic: they took traditional two-option decisions (both with pros and cons) and found a winning alternative, we’ll call it C. The winning alternative (C) comes from creative thought and generally minimizes the cons while maximizing the pros of any option. This kind of thinking had a profound impact on my decision making outcomes.

Boban Dedovic

Serial Entrepreneur

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

The Picture of Dorian Grey

A copy from 1903 of this book is my most prized possession.

Andra Zaharia

Freelance Content Marketer/The Content Habit

Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great

One of the shorter, fun books I read this summer is A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great. It’s by Ed Rendell, who was district attorney, mayor of Philadelphia and then two-term governor of Pennsylvania. If you’ve heard him speak or seen him on TV, you know he’s a colorful and outspoken observer of political life in the U.S. No surprise, then, that this book is colorful too,with lots of great stories. His theme is that leaders shouldn’t just tell people what they want to hear. But because politics has become so intensely partisan, too often our political leaders seem to be afraid to tell us the truth and to actually lead us in making the hard choices we need to face up to, on issues like education reform and the federal deficit. As a mayor and governor, Rendell faced up to some very messed-up budget situations and made some smart trade-offs. I thought his point of view was really refreshing. He makes a good point about how politics has changed in ways that make it harder for leaders to emerge and to truly lead.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

Civilization: The West and the Rest

Can't wait to start reading Niall Ferguson's new book, Civilization, The West and the Rest. Bet lots to think about.

Rupert Murdoch

CEO/News Corporation

Confessions of an Advertising Man

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written.

Bogdana Butnar

Head of Strategy/Poke

Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office

Just because I didn’t want this list to be all stuffy old classics, I thought I’d put this interesting (and unofficial) biography of Jay-Z on here. This is a biography that also functions as a business book. It shows how Jay applied hustling techniques to the music business and eventually built his empire.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

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